Seconds
by Herenya902
Summary: Just a collection of one shots set in the Destiny universe.
1. Lord Saladin

I am the last of the Iron Lords. I am the last of the first. I am Lord Saladin and my vigil is unending. At least that is what I have thought. After my brothers and sisters gave their lives to seal away SIVA, I was alone to watch for the day that it returned. I believed that I would have to watch forever.

I have learned that this is not true. I have found someone, a Guardian named Zotra. She has proven invaluable to me in my quest to destroy SIVA forever. She has been so willing to risk her life to save the lives of others and put a stop to this terrible threat. I have sent her on missions so dangerous, that even Shiro seemed hesitant to do them. Every time she left I worried.

I lost my brothers and sisters to SIVA long ago. I did not want to lose her as well. She was so young and brave. She had so much to learn and see. Yet, what could I do? The Fallen had to be stopped and she was the only one brave enough to do it. I had asked both Zavala and Shaxx for their best Guardian, and they sent me her.

She always returned from her mission. Often she was bruised and battered, but she was alive. She never once complained about the difficulty of her missions. Her Ghost did, but she always quietly shushed him and went on her way. After she would leave, I would speak to Shiro about the mission and try to make sure that I had done all I could to insure that she was ready for what would come.

Shiro told me not to worry, but I couldn't help myself. I had been alone for so long without my brothers and sisters, that I couldn't bear the thought of losing someone I had come to see as a sister. She had the spirit of a wolf inside of her and I took to calling her Young Wolf.

When the time came for her to enter the reproduction chamber and defeat SIVA, I had to face the reality that she might not come back. It was difficult, but SIVA had to be destroyed. She understood that. I could see it in her eyes when I told her what had to be done. She knew what the consequences may be, and she was not afraid. She reminded me so much of the Iron Lords before we had fallen. That spirit was in her eyes.

As she fought the remnants of my brothers and sisters, I listened to her fight over the comms anxiously. When she finally managed to defeat them all, I told her to initiate the self destruct sequence. She didn't even hesitate. She just pushed the button and ran. I couldn't breath as she ran furiously, trying to escape the explosion. When she made it out, I let out a deep sigh before congratulating her and asking her to return to the Temple. I had something planned for the Young Wolf.

I met her in the heart of the Temple, in front of the statues of my fallen brothers and sisters. When she approached, I saw the helmet in her hands. Jolder's helmet. She handed it to me reverently and I placed it carefully on the pedestal behind me. Then I picked up the sword that lay above it.

I turned to her and presented it to her. I told her that she was the beginning of a new order of Iron Lords. She accepted the sword and held it as if she was born to it. I knew without a doubt that my newest sister would lead the Guardians and the Iron Lords to victory in the fight against the darkness. I had faith in the Young Wolf.

I am Lord Saladin. My vigil is coming to a close, and my order has been restored. No longer do I walk alone. I have a sister to walk with me and soon many more shall rally to our banner. We are the Iron Lords.


	2. I Haven't Seen Your Scarf

Zavala stormed into the chamber where the Vanguard members normaly met looking very, very angry. The Awoken Titan was grumbling under his breath and his eyes were sweeping the room. Was it just Cayde, or was there something missing around Zavala's neck? 'Yes, there most definitely was.' he laughed to himself.

The Titan approached Ikora and they shared a whispered conversation. Cayde picked up a few words like, "Scarf," and "Missing," and "Cayde". That last one was said with a very large amount of irritation. Eventually Ikora spoke louder. "No, Zavala, I haven't seen your scarf. And no, I do not know where Cayde is." Zavala opened his mouth to say something, but Ikora held up her hand and stopped him. "I'm not going to look for him either. I have important matters to look into. Find him yourself." She turned back to the tome in front of her and Zavala gave her a small glare.

This was wonderful! Zavala never got distracted from the fight with the Darkness. He was always talking about 'the fight'. Apparently that scarf was very important to him. Cayde knew he had chosen correctly. This was going to be good!

He was in the middle of congratulating himself when Zavala's eyes found him. Uh-oh. Straightening up out of his hiding place he murmured to himself loud enough for Zavala to hear, "Ah… there it is! I knew I had put it here somewhere." He pretended to place something small in his pocket and strolled out from behind the crates. When he reached Zavala, he pretended to have not seen him earlier. "Hey, Zavala! Where've you been?" he asked in a nonchalant manner. Unfortunately Zavala didn't buy it.

"Cayde, hand it over." he demanded in a not-so-friendly tone.

Even though Cayde knew it would only make things worse he decided to play dumb. This was just too much fun! "Hand what over? Did accidentally walk off with one of your reports again? Hold on, let me check." He proceeded to check all of his pockets for the supposedly missing document. He had to stifle a laugh at the irritated look on Zavala's face. "Sorry, Zavala. I don't have anything." he replied after he had finished 'searching' his pockets.

He could practically hear Zavala's scowl. "I'm not missing any reports, Cayde. I'm missing the gift Eva gave me for the Dawning."

Cayde feigned surprise. "Oh, the scarf! Sorry about that. Need some help looking for it?" he offered gallantly.

Zavala's eye began to twitch. "I don't need help looking for it. I need you to give it back." Zavala ground out.

Despite the obvious danger he was in, Cayde decided to keep up his charade. "Are you implying that I stole it? Me!? I am a perfect image of honesty. I would never dream of taking something from the great Commander Zavala, leader of the Vanguard. That would be insane!" He almost laughed at the look on Zavala's face and decided to give up the act in his own special way. "I mean, just to sneak into his room using cloaking tech borrowed from Rasputin in the dead of night would be crazy! Then to take the scarf that he seems to value quite highly off of the table in the room while he is sleeping, careful to dodge all of the alarms, that would be near suicide!"

Zavala let out a growl. "Cayde, don't make me take it from you…" he threatened darkly. Cayde was about to reply when Ikora spoke up from across the room.

"Just give it to him, Cayde. You've already won." she said with a sigh.

Cayde laughed and handed over the scarf to Zavala. "Oh! This scarf! Here you go, Zavala!" he said and then sauntered over to his place at the table. Zavala followed him, grumbling to himself.

Cayde leaned against the table feeling quite proud of himself. He had distracted Zavala from the threat of the Darkness for a good while. Speaking of which… "Ikora, pay up." he called to the Warlock, who had turned her attention back to her book. She sighed and then tossed him a bag full of glimmer. He counted the pieces with satisfaction before pocketing them. Zavala had watched the exchange with curiosity.

"You made a bet with Cayde? What did you bet on?" he sounded genuinely confused, as he should be. Ikora was a very logical woman who rarely made wagers of any kind unless she was certain the outcome would be in her favor. That generally meant no bets with Cayde.

"Cayde said that he could distract you from the threat of the Darkness for at least half an hour. I disagreed. We made a bet. He won." she explained briefly before going back to her book. Cayde noticed it was the one Eva had given her. He would have to 'borrow' that sometime.

Zavala just looked at her for a few long moments and Cayde enjoyed the absolute surprise on his face. Then a new Guardian came in and it was back to work for the Vanguard.


	3. A Day in the Life

How does an Exo Hunter's day start? Much like anyone else's. With a lot of groaning and complaining. This particular Exo, Dice-4, shared a room with a fellow Guardian who, by some twist of fate, happened to be a Warlock. Zotra, that was the Warlock's name, was always up bright and early to start her 'meditation in the light' or some nonsense like that. This meant that Dice was up early too. She didn't like it.

Once she had finished complaining and tried to get Zotra to take a bet with her, she never did, Dice would head on over to where the Vanguard was. Sometimes her trip would include a stop by Eva to see if she had any new shaders, or a visit to Holliday to check on her ship. When she did finally reach the part of the Tower where her mentor was, she would see if Cayde had anything for her to do as well as place a few bets. If he didn't she would pick up bounties from Shaxx and Xander. A look at the bounties would decide where she went next.

Often there would be a patrol bounty of some sort at the Cosmodrome, which was her favorite place to go shoot things. After checking with Banshee for new weapons to test, she'd head out to the field.

Once she had landed in the Cosmodrome, the first thing she'd do was turn on her music. The Old Earth era music drove her Ghost crazy, but she loved it. Then she'd hop on her Sparrow, tricked out for the races, and speed off to find some good missions. Her favorite were the kill all missions. There was nothing complicated about them. All it was was her, her hand cannon, and a lot of soon to be dead minions of the Darkness. Occasionally she would join other Guardians in taking down major threats like Walkers or Ultras. Her hand was always steady and she squeezed off more than a few headshots.

Eventually she would get bored of patrolling and head to the Crucible. She loved Mayhem Rumble matches, or any Mayhem match really. Her light regenerated so quickly that she was almost always able to use her Golden Gun and take out the other Guardians. When she did get killed, as was inevitable in the Crucible, she would hunt down the one who killed her and do the same to him.

At the end of the day, after she had won and lost many Crucible matches and patrolled across the system, she would head back to the Tower and turn in all of the bounties she had finished and cash in on the bets she had made with Cayde. Then she would head back to her shared room and banter with her Warlock friend as they shared stories of what they had did that day. Then she would fall asleep, content with what she had accomplished, but promising herself that she would do better the next day.


	4. A Dance in the Rain

Dice-4, Hunter extraordinaire, cursed softly as she barely dodged out of the way of a powerful spray of bullets. One clipped her, but she ignored it, ducking around the corner and readying her hand cannon. When her opponent turned the corner, she raised the gun and fired three quick shots. Instead of seeing her opponent fall, she felt, rather than saw, her land behind her. She turned in a flash to fire again, but only got a face full of electricity. Then she died.

Zotra chuckled at the surprise that Dice managed to show before she had killed her. That brought her number of kills to three and Dice's to only one. She was winning, which was very good. The private Crucible match between her and her roommate couldn't have very much time left. If she lost, she would be hearing about it for weeks. She heard the distinct sound of a very angry Dice being revived, and dashed away to get a good vantage point.

Dead. That was the only adjective that would be able to describe Zotra soon. Using her gliding like that was tricky. Dice was the only one who was supposed to be tricky! She quieted her footsteps as she stalked away to find the Warlock. Turning a corner, Dice saw Zotra at the end of a corridor. Seeing her perfect chance, Dice pulled out her sniper rifle. She aimed swiftly and squeezed off two perfect shots. Zotra dropped immediately.

Zotra knew now that Dice was angry. As she dropped back onto the ground, her ghost having revived her, she looked around warily and kept her finger near the trigger of her auto rifle. She heard a sound behind her and she whirled around and fired at the Exo who had tried to sneak up on her. Unfortunately said Exo dodged with an expert roll. Then Dice shot her and she died, again, and suddenly it began to pour.

Dice did a short dance in the sudden rain to celebrate her kill. Now they were tied. All she had to do was get her one more time and she would most likely win. There couldn't be more than a minute left on the clock. With that thought she set off in search of the newly revived Warlock.

She snuck through the corridors of the arena in search of Zotra. The seconds ticked by, and Dice realized that she only had thirty seconds to find her opponent and end her. That was when she saw the tail of Zotra's golden robe twirl around a corner. Now she had her. She pulled out her hand cannon and readied her knife. Then she ran around the corner. As she turned it, she heard a distinct crackling noise, but by then it was too late. Zotra, in the a powerful Stormtrance, shot her full of lightning and Dice-4 died. Her Ghost revived her, but it was too late. Lord Shaxx's voice announced the end of the match. She had lost.

Later that evening, when Dice and Zotra were sitting on the couch in their shared rooms, Dice grumbled something about using the Stormtrance was unfair. Zotra had just laughed quietly. "Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing if you had thought of it." she had said with a laugh. Dice muttered an unintelligible response. Zotra laughed again and went back to reading her book. A silence settled over the room, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Despite their rivalry, Dice and Zotra were like sisters and one dance in the rain wouldn't change that. That didn't mean that Zotra wouldn't wake up with a few of her things missing though.


	5. Sharing

Cayde just didn't understand why Ikora was so mad. She had left the large and rather boring book out, so Cayde took it for granted that that meant that she wanted to share it with him. Everyone knew that if something was left out, it was fair game. Besides, it wasn't like he had stolen it or anything. All he had done was borrow the book while he was sure she wasn't looking and put it somewhere safe for later. Honestly, Ikora was overreacting.

"Cayde," she said in a scarily calm voice, "Give me my book back. I need it for a mission."

Cayde perked up at the word mission. "A mission? With who? Can I join? Thanks, Ikora." he said quickly and walked past her, making sure to dodge the arm that shot out to grab him. "It's with Zotra, and no, you can't join in. Zavala has a mission he needs you to help with."

He followed her anyway complaining, "Zavala's mission is boring. He wants me to confirm information that Shiro already collected. Shiro is a good scout, if he said it happened, it happened. Unless it's a bet. Then it probably didn't happen." Ikora just shook her head but didn't make any further move to shoo him away.

They got back to the Hall, and Ikora began to plan the mission with Zotra, who was already there. Cayde listened in, occasionally brightening their dull conversations with a joke or jab. When they started talking about different Warlock things, he tuned them out and began to focus on the items sitting on the table in front of him. A lot of them looked old and a few even looked dangerous. Best of all, they were sitting out. That meant that Ikora was willing to share them as well! Cayde picked one up and stuck it in his pocket. Deciding that he was done here, he walked out of the hall. He picked up his pace when he heard Ikora yell behind him, "Cayde!" in that threatening voice of hers. She really needed to learn how to share.


End file.
